Mother is arrested ‘after locking a baby and young girl inside her car as temperatures inside the vehicle soared to 60C’
- Woman was arrested after her two children were allegedly found in a hot car
- Members of the public called the police after noticing the children crying
- They were both suffering heat stress and were taken to hospital as a precaution
A baby boy and a primary school-aged girl were rescued from a boiling hot locked car in Melbourne on Sunday.
Members of the public called the police after noticing the children crying in the car which was parked at a shopping centre.
Officers broke into the car, parked on Buckingham Avenue, Springvale, to rescue the children.
A woman, 29, has been arrested after she allegedly left her two children in a car
Outside it was only 25°C but temperatures could have reached up to 60°C in the vehicle, according to Seven News.
They were both suffering heat stress and were taken to hospital as a precaution.
The children’s 29-year-old mother has been arrested and was charged on summons.
She is expected to be charged with two counts of leaving children unattended.
The incident comes after eight children were rescued on December 19 across the state after they were left in hot cars as temperatures climbed to 40°C.
Dr Dilip Dhupelia, the president of the Australian Medical Association’s Queensland branch, previously told Daily Mail Australia: ‘It is never OK to leave a child in the car.’
Dr Dhupelia said children’s bodies heat up three to five times faster than adults do and winding down the windows and parking in the shade does little to help.
Officers broke into the car, parked on Buckingham Avenue, Springvale, to rescue the children
‘Some people have this false sense of protection – ‘it’s only ten minutes, I’ll leave the window open four or five centimetres’,’ he said.
‘It doesn’t stop the temperature rising.’
The doctor said the mercury can rise so fast in ten minutes in the car it can cause heatstroke and seizures to occur.
Heatstroke is where childrens’ bodies fail to properly regulate their temperature and can occur rapidly after their body temperature passes 40°C.
The children’s 29-year-old mother has been arrested and was charged on summons. She is expected to be charged with two counts of leaving children unattended
Children can become dizzy, confused and agitated as a result of the heatstroke before their organs start to shut down.
This is when seizures occur, and this can lead to loss of consciousness or death.
Death occur if a child’s temperature hits 41.5°C to 42°C.
‘If a child survives, there could be a high risk of brain damage as a result of these seizures and lack of oxygen to the brain,’ Dr Dhupelia said.
Every year 5,000 children are rescued after being locked in cars across Australia.
Between September 1, 2017, and August 31, 2018, Ambulance Victoria responded to 1,587 callouts for people locked in cars
The majority of cases involved toddlers and babies.